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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. tube — the underground
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. clip — to cut
  6. chip — for betting
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. spring — of water
  9. bear — the animal
  10. chest — of your body
  11. rash — a series
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. spring — the season
  15. chest — a box
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bear — the animal
  18. chip — to eat
  19. chest — of your body
  20. clip — a video
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com